If you ask the leaders of a law firm what their greatest asset is, they will likely say it’s their lawyers.
Your law firm might be in a beautiful building in an excellent location.
You might have a modern conference room to work out of equipped with the latest technology, but you need quality lawyers to back all of that up.
And, you need to be sure they are all working on the same page.
The success of your law firm depends heavily on the quality of your lawyers and how well they can work together as a single unit to achieve their goals.
Team building and keeping everyone in your firm on the same page, from the leaders down to the new hires, is what makes a good firm great.
Fortunately, the digital age we live in has made it possible to communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime, making it incredibly easy to keep your law firm on the same page.
It might seem like the decrease in human engagement has made it harder to communicate effectively and work together with colleagues.
But, when you use the right technology and apply the right principles, it’s easier than ever to keep everyone on the same page.
In the article below, we will look at several ways to keep your law firm working together in unity.
Table of Contents
Start With Yourself
Don’t Completely Give Up On In-Person Meetings
Never Stop Communicating
Use Practice Management Software To Keep Your Law Firm On The Same Page
CoCounselor
Tasks
Activity and Chatter Box
Calendar
Contacts
Reports
Keep Everyone On The Same Page With CoCounselor
Good communication and cohesiveness among your lawyers starts at the top with you.
Owning the law firm doesn’t automatically make you a good leader.
You need to be honest with yourself first and find out if there is anything you can improve about yourself.
Some people are natural-born leaders, and if that’s you, great.
However, most of us need time to explore the leadership style that fits our personality and a style that will work well with your lawyers.
A law firm will only go as far as the leader will take it, so it’s important to look in the mirror first before you start figuring everything else out first.
To get your law firm working together on the same page, you have to first be sure everyone is on the same page as you.
Admittedly, most people don’t like in-person meetings anymore.
And yes, most in-person meetings tend to be time wasters that can be solved with a couple of emails.
But in-person meetings still serve a purpose, even in today’s world of cloud computing.
They allow everyone in your firm to contribute, and they’ll keep your lawyers from feeling isolated.
Face to face interaction has several benefits, especially when it comes to making sure everyone on your team works on the same page.
Use strategies to make every in-person meeting more valuable, so people will look forward to attending.
Meetings can be a valuable tool used to communicate, execute, and plan your law firm’s strategy.
There’s no way to know if everyone is working together if you aren’t communicating.
The people in your law firm should never be kept in the dark, and you should be as transparent as possible to avoid any confusion.
Announce all significant decisions and make sure you give everyone a chance to offer any feedback or ask questions.
Allowing your lawyers an equal opportunity to provide constructive criticism will show them that you value their opinions.
It is absolutely vital to keep the communication flowing and make every team member a part of the discussion.
When people stop talking is when problems arise, and team cohesiveness declines.
Since we live in a technological age, it is essential to realize that in-person meetings aren’t enough anymore, and law firms need to keep up with the times and use legal software.
It’s no longer practical to be tied down to a single desk or workstation to be able to access your case files.
That’s where law practice management software comes in.
Modern law firms need practice management software to ensure their lawyers are all working on the same page, no matter where they are.
The practice management software that is right for your business will depend on the type of law you practice, the software programs you are already using, and how comfortable you are adjusting the software to fit your needs.
When choosing your legal management software, select the program that makes it easiest for your team to work together from anywhere.
If you are a personal injury law firm looking to keep up with the times and keep everyone on the same page, CoCounselor could be just what you’re looking for.
CoCounselor is the only cloud-based practice management system that was designed with personal injury law firms in mind.
With CoCounselor, you can keep your entire staff on the same page, work on any device, and build dashboards and reports that allow everyone on your team to stay up to date on important deadlines and the happenings of your law firm.
Here are just a few features CoCounselor has that can help you keep your team on the same page:
Tasks
With tasks, everyone can see everything due for the day.
Tasks can be filtered by overdue, completed, and tasks that have been designated to others.
You can quickly create new tasks and relate them to the appropriate case number or contact, and your team can get email alerts when new tasks have been assigned to them.
You can also change the priority level of the tasks, assigning them a priority of low, normal, and high.
Activity and Chatter Box
The Activity and Chatter Box is an excellent tool to use to keep everyone on the same page.
With this, you can assign tasks, create calendar events, log notes or phone calls, and send emails from the activity box.
This leaves a long history of everything that has been done with a particular project or case that can easily be referred to.
If teammates have questions for one another but don’t want to interrupt, they can use the chatter box.
In the chatter box, you can tag your coworker’s name and send them your question.
They will receive a notification that you sent them something, and they can respond at a time that works for them.
Calendar
With the calendar in CoCounselor, your team will never miss another deadline. CoCounselor automatically adds statute dates and reminders.
You can sync this calendar with your Google or Outlook calendar, and view and update your firm calendar on any device whenever you need to.
Contacts
With contacts in CoCounselor, everyone can stay connected and keep detailed communication records with potential clients.
Your team can file emails from Google and Outlook to the relevant prospect record directly from their inbox.
Contacts also provide your team with a chronological history of communication with prospects.
Reports
Reports is an excellent tool to make sure everyone is on the same page because it allows you to schedule and send automated reports regularly to make sure everyone stays on top of their work.
With filters and multiple report types, you can create custom lists of cases organized by statues, so you never miss a deadline.
Keeping your law firm on the same page is even easier now with law practice management software.
The legal industry is notorious for being slow to adapt to new technologies, but now is the perfect time to start if you aren’t using practice management software yet.
CoCounselor is an excellent cloud-based practice management program designed to make it possible for personal injury law firms to stay on the same page no matter where they are.
With tasks, activity and chatter box, reports, calendar, and contacts, there is no excuse for your firm not to be able to work together.
If your personal injury firm still doesn’t have cloud-based law practice management software, it’s time to give CoCounselor a try.
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